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Panhandling scheme spurs police caution in Fitchburg

By Katina Caraganis , kcaraganis@sentinelandenterprise.com

Updated:
03/03/2014 06:31:10 AM EST

FITCHBURG -- Police officers are warning residents to be more vigilant after receiving multiple reports of being scammed by "distraught" motorists who claim to have broken down with no way to get home.

Often the perpetrator will approach the victim on the street and say they've run out of gas and need money to get home, or they haven't eaten in days and need money for food.

Pam Porter, a multimedia marketing representative for the Sentinel & Enterprise, is one such victim to the new scam. She said last week she was swindled out of nearly $50 by a woman she thought was in legitimate distress and needed help.

Porter said she was standing outside the newspaper's Main Street office with a co-worker when a woman carrying a red gasoline container approached and asked for a cigarette.

Porter remembers the woman looking "flustered" and said her car had broken down in front of the Boulder Cafe on Main Street. She said she had just left her job as an oncology nurse at Burbank Hospital and was trying to get to Worcester to see her daughter, who had just given birth.

After hearing the story, Porter said she had the woman get into her car and tell her which gas station she went to to get the can. Upon arrival, Porter said, the woman said the can cost $17, so Porter gave her a $20 bill to go inside and pay for the can.

"She walked into the station like she was going to pay for it, but she wound up just putting the money in her pocket I guess," she said. She also gave her $20 to fill the can.

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"I said I'd bring her to her car to fill it up and she told me she hadn't eaten, so I gave her money for food," Porter.

As they made their way back to the Boulder Cafe, the woman changed her story and said her car was not at the Boulder but really at her house.

"I really felt like I was trying to help somebody out in need. It was in the middle of a snowstorm. She came up and was flustered and in tears. She said she didn't know what to do. She said nobody would help her. She made me feel awful, like I really needed to help her," Porter said.

She said as the trip continued, red flags started to pop up. She said when they went to the gas station where the woman said she got her gas can, the only gas cans they sold were yellow, not red.

Also, she said, there is a gas station just on the other side of the Boulder Cafe, but when she approached Porter, the woman was walking away from the gas station.

"For her to act like that, she was just swindling me. That's all she wanted was money for drugs probably. I have a heart of gold and that's my problem," Porter said. "My father went to Burbank's cancer center and I figured she was one of those nurses, so I figured I would help her out and this was my way to give back to them."

Porter agreed to drop her off at her home on Pleasant Street.

Sgt. Glenn Fossa said it's not all that uncommon for things like this to happen, but panhandling incidents in cities and towns are hard to control.

"It's a very difficult law to enact," he said, saying a number of cases have reached the state Supreme Court and panhandling convictions have been overturned.

"On the whole, we don't see a ton of it, especially not compared to other communities. When you saw panhandling, I think of the whole Alewife rotary in Cambridge. It's almost like it's condoned there because they know what they can and can't do," he said.

One of the main reasons cases like these are hard to prosecute, he said, is because police either need to have a willing victim testify in court or the act needs to be witnessed by a police officer.

"I think this is a fairly new type of thing, maybe like an organized type of thing asking for money," he said.

He remembers being at a gas station on Main Street filling up his undercover cruiser when he was approached by a teenager asking for $5. Fossa was not in uniform.

When Fossa said he did not have any money on him, two other males approached the suspect asking if he "got anything" from Fossa.

"They had no clue who they were talking to. I said, 'One more word from any of you about asking me for money and you will be under arrest,' " he said.

He said it's important for people who may wind up in Porter's situation to be aware of their surroundings and the types of services police and fire personnel have available to people who may be in crisis.

He said people should err on the side of caution when it comes to engaging strangers.

"If somebody approaches you with a story of need, the best thing is the police station is just a few minutes away in terms of response. This is also part of the world we live in and the lives we lead," he said.

Porter said she lost $45, but the lesson she learned is priceless.

"She brought me somewhere, where I dropped her off, and anything could have happened to me. It could have been a setup. They could have stolen my car. A million bad things could have happened if she was desperate enough," Porter said.

While at the gas station, the woman did ask Porter to get out of her car and help fill the gas can, a request Porter did not indulge.

Fossa said people should not feel "obligated" to help anyone who approaches them on the street asking for money.

"You should always be backing yourself up with a police officer or the Fire Department or EMS personnel, or even another stranger," he said.

By having a number of people on your side, or suggesting you go to the police station for help, it can deter people from taking advantage of you, he said.

"Somebody could have swiped my car," she said. "It's just so wrong for people to do that. I put myself in a really bad situation. People need to be more vigilant and be more apt to say no hopefully by hearing this."

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